1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a constructing method of organization activity database integrating information about various events necessary for organization activity or achievements and other information generating therefrom, and analysis sheet and organization activity management system used in the same.
More particularly, the invention relates to a constructing method of organization activity database for registering various pieces of information generated in the process of various organization activities based on the result of taking in and analyzing events in consideration of process (work flow) management, organization internal rules, statutory regulations and the like in various organization activities, an analysis sheet used therein, and an organization activity management system capable of understanding the working condition from the physical aspect, searching next process, and searching related organization, document or personal information, by integrating thus constructed object-oriented database (OODB) and conventional relational database (RDB).
2. Description of the Related Art
In many organizations, especially enterprises, hitherto, computer systems have been introduced for the purpose of promoting the efficiency and automation of data processing in order to enhance the productivity of objects. Such introduction of computer system contributed greatly to efficiency and automation of general routine tasks, such as processing of slips, but was not sufficiently effective in many non-routine tasks, for example, research and development, and further in the enhancement of productivity of clerical processing in the enterprise.
Recently, in the organization activity, especially in the enterprise activity aiming at profit making, the concept called "work flow" is attracting attention. The work flow is generally defined as the "process promoted by integrating individual tasks in order to achieve transactions (individual processes defined clearly) within an organization".
Transactions consist of routine tasks that occur every day and can be processed by standard procedure, and on-routine tasks that do not occur every day and are processed individually. The former includes slip processing and other tasks occurring in daily enterprise activities, and is called production work flow. The latter includes research and development and the like, and is called ad hoc work flow.
The conventional computer software for management of production work flow includes various types of software for automating frequent, repetitive and important jobs for the enterprise, such as insurance billing and payment settlement. However, nothing notable is available at the present as the computer software for management of ad hoc work flow. This is because, considering the computer software for ad hoc work flow, necessary process for given job is not determined, and processing is often done by judgment of individual persons.
On the other hand, when classifying the work flow, aside from the classification into production work flow and ad hoc work flow, a classification into document-oriented work flow and group-oriented work flow may be considered. In document-oriented jobs, required processes are mainly carried out by papers or a work package called folder containing them. In other words, in the document-oriented work flow, one document or folder is put into a queue composed of plural workers, and is sequentially processed to promote the task. By contrast, in the group-oriented work flow, jobs are instructed to individual workers, and jobs executed by individual workers are integrated, and by repeating such work, one task is executed by plural workers.
In this way, the work flow is roughly classified into four categories, that is, the document-oriented production work flow, document-oriented ad hoc work flow, group-oriented production work flow, and group-oriented ad hoc work flow.
Incidentally, for the management of document-oriented work flow, an art called SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) is known. It was established as ISO8879 in 1986, and it is a computer language for handling documents electronically, that is, in a format handled by computer. This system has been already employed in the Patent Office of Japan.
Moreover, as a subset of SGML, HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is also known for handling documents including multimedia data such as voice and moving image. The hypertext is the software enabling to handle data such as characters, image and voice as the object, and access by linking them variously, and its descriptive language is the HTML. A file in the HTML format can be linked with video and and not only the pure text data, but also drawings, receipts and others can be directly taken in as image data in bit map format or the like, so that the so-called multimedia system can be constructed.
The concept of SGML may be summarized as follows.
Elements of a document are classified into structure and content, and appearance elements. PA1 The document structure and information content are expressed by SGML, and shown by standard characters. PA1 The document structure is defined by language, without sacrificing the flexibility of document. PA1 The document can be written by using any preferred word processor or editor (text editor), and it is possible to print or display without changing the document content. As a result, the document making and output are not limited by specific appliance or system. PA1 In particular, in the case of in-house documents, official documents, or commercial documents such as manuals, it is easy to standardize the style of the documents. PA1 The documented information can be easily made into database. PA1 By using HTML, the document can be made easily by using not only text data, but also still picture, moving picture and sound.
Having such concept, the SGML provides the following features.
The writer of the document can concentrate efforts on writing the document accurately and simply. That is, the writer need not consider the layout of document that was required conventionally in the word processor or DTP (desktop publishing) system.
In the enterprise activities, on the other hand, the standard of quality management established as ISO9000 in 1987 is known. In this ISO9000, "the procedure for making up the product quality" is more important than "the product quality itself", and it requires "documentation of quality system quality making procedure) conforming to the quality policy of the top management, and assortment of documents proving that the jobs are done exactly according to the procedure specified in those documents".
To realize such ISO9000, it is necessary to make and store necessary documents, and it is very effective, needless to say, to make these documents in a standardized descriptive system, for example, SGML, from the viewpoint of database compilation.
To record various informations in an organization (enterprise) in an electronic format, that is, to form into electronic data such as text data and document descriptive data for the document to be processed by a word processor, graphic data to be processed by CAD/CAM system, and raster data for photographs and graphics, it means evidently that a further efficiency is achieved because various documents (documents, drawings, business transaction slips, etc.) in all departments of the enterprise such as design department, sales department, manufacturing department and distribution department can be exchanged easily as electronic information through communication lines. More specifically, the drawings made by the CAD in the design department can be instantly transmitted to the manufacturing department or distribution department, and hence it is possible to respond very quickly relation to the manufacturing equipment, or from the viewpoint of problems in procurement of parts and feedback of market research.
Considering from such technical flow, evidently, further efficiency is demanded in contact with other organizations, aside from the efficiency of organization activity within one organization. That is, by exchanging various documents (documents, drawings, business transaction slips, etc.) with other organizations (other companies) as electronic information through communication lines, it is obvious that a further efficiency is achieved. More specifically, for example, drawing data made by the CAD of one company is sent to a component manufacturing company through communication lines, and the data can be directly put into an NC machine, so that manufacture of the component can be started immediately.
Such technique is realized, however, only by standardization of electronic information, not only within one organization, but also on a global scale at the present. For example, when the electronic information is standardized within one company and electronic information can be exchanged between the design department and manufacturing department, however, when subcontracting the components, the drawings must be printed as hard copy and submitted to the subcontractor. In this case, the subcontractor is not limited within the nation, and therefore a global standardization of electronic information is needed.
Such idea has been already proposed as the concept such as "CALS", and it is partly put in practical use. Various elements are involved in CALS, and its definition is not fixed yet, but the following three points are regarded as important aspects.
(1) To construct an environment capable of exchanging technical information such as design drawings, written information such as reports, and transaction information generating accompanying with order issuing and receiving, between departments in an organization, or between plural organizations, directly in the form of electronic information, and without restrictions of the hardware.
(2) To allow all concerned parties (organizations) to function as one organization, by sharing information and utilizing whenever necessary by all concerned parties (organizations), in all aspects from development and design of products, to procurement of materials, and maintenance and management after shipping.
(3) To realize a so-called multimedia system capable of exchanging not only simple numerical data as iIn the conventional computer system, but also image and sound.
As elements necessary for realizing such CALS, the following standards for input and exchange of information is needed. More specifically, aside from the SGML, the following standards has been already established: EDI (Electronic Data Interchange: standard of exchange of electronic data, partly specified already in ISO7372 as EDIFACT), STEP (Standard for The Exchange of Product model data: standard of product design drawing data, ISO10303), CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile: standard of storage and exchange of graphic data such as drawings and illustrations), IGES (Initial Graphics Exchange Specifications: standard of format data of CAD/CAM system), and CCITT Group 4 (International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee Group 4: standard of compression technique for exchange of graphic data).
Further considerations must be also given to integration and security of database, and moreover, for example, the software for converting the document made by using various formats of hardware and software into SGML format automatically is also necessary.
When the CALS, which may be dared to be said to be a global paperless movement, is realized, the electronic information of the working process on the whole related to the technology including design and manufacturing can be exchanged beyond the barriers of enterprise, not limited to the departments within the own company, and the marketing research, planning, design, purchase of parts, manufacture, and manual writing hitherto conducted in the time series can be done simultaneously and parallel, that is, the so-called CE (Concurrent Engineering) can be realized. On the other hand, the plural departments within the enterprise already diversified and having complicated functions can be integrated, which is known as EI (Enterprise Integration), or a virtual enterprise can be organized by plural companies by subcontracting non-specialty jobs to other companies, which is known as VC (Virtual Corporation).
When plural processes in an enterprise or plural enterprises are linked by network, sales and manufacturing, design and manufacturing, and marketing and manufacturing can be executed through close relations, respectively. An integrated database beyond the barriers of departments or enterprises can be built up through network. While sharing various data, as each department or each enterprise promotes the operation, the waste can be eliminated, the decision is made promptly, and the job is sophisticated (that is, a higher value is added). In particular, the productivity of the so-called white-collar workers, who conventionally made and exchanged a tremendous amount of documents to fulfill the main duties of designing and planning, market cultivation, opinion adjustment among departments, and negotiations with other companies, will be notably enhanced, and the radical change of jobs relating to plural departments and plural enterprises is brought about, which may be called business process reengineering.
When, however, the document management is standardized into database by employing CALS, the ad hoc work flow cannot be solved only by introducing the SGML with the conventional concept of document-oriented work flow only. From such point of view, recently, development is being promoted for the computer software called groupware for managing the group-oriented work flow. The groupware is a kind of computer software designed to promote the job executed by plural workers efficiently.
The hitherto known groupware includes functions of schedule management of workers engaged in a same job, automatic setting of meeting hours, and automatic transmission of job instructions by electronic mail from the group leader to the individual group members. In other words, it aims at production work flow management by using the conventional electronic mail function, between plural terminals connected by LAN or the like.
As clear from the description herein, of the four types of work flow, various products of computer software are already available for the management of two types of document-oriented work flow, and further by using not only SGML but also CALS, it is possible to handle all documents systematically within an enterprise in future. Concerning the management of group-oriented production work flow, when not sufficient in function, various of computer software called groupware are realized, and it is expected that the functions may be further fulfilled in the future. However, as for the management of group-oriented ad hoc work flow, little has been attempted so far.
For example, in the research and development tasks in the enterprise, it is necessary to take in the events in consideration of the corporate job management rules, shop standard and statutory regulations (for example, GCP:Good Clinical Practice for pharmaceuticals), register various data generating in the process into the object-oriented database, understand the situations from the physical aspect, search the next process, or search the information of related organization document and person, in the course of execution of the tasks.
In such a case, the management of group-oriented ad hoc work flow is essential, and it requires the technique for formatting the events relating to the activities of persons into database. In the conventional database functions such as RDB (relational database) and NDB (network database), however, since the manner of capturing the information differs on each scene of the job, linking of items of the database is complicated, and it is difficult to extract necessary information, and hence it was substantially impossible to form into a working system.
In this background, by the advent of the object-oriented database (OODB), lately, it has been made easy to formulate events relating to personal activities into database, and pick up relating information.